by British Baseball Federation
Great Britain Senior National Team head coach Sam Dempster and the British Baseball Federation are pleased to announce their provisional 40-man roster for the forthcoming 2014 European Championships being co-hosted in Germany and Czech Republic between 12-21 September.
Coach Dempster and his staff have been assessing the available talent all season and, over the coming weeks, will select the final 24-man roster from this talented group to compete in the Championships.
Tournament Format
Great Britain have been drawn in Group A which will be played in Regensburg, Germany – a venue they will be familiar with have played the World Baseball Classic Qualifier there in 2012. Team GB will face five rivals at this stage including current European champions Italy and host nation Germany, as well as Belgium, France and Sweden.
Group B features co-hosts Czech Republic, world number five Netherlands, along with Croatia, Greece and Spain.
The tournament then moves solely to the Czech Republic where the top three teams in each group will then progress to Group C – a final qualification round-robin being held in Brno – with the top two teams from this group competing in the final for the title. The bottom two teams from Group A and B will have to compete in a relegation round-robin being held in Trebic, with the bottom two from this group being demoted to the European B-pool Qualifiers in 2015.
Full details of the tournament can be found here
COACHING STAFF
| Role | Name |
|---|---|
| Head Coach | Sam Dempster |
| Pitching Coach / Recruitment Coordinator | Brian Essery |
| First Base Coach | Liam Carroll |
| Third Base Coach | Darryl Reid |
| Strength & Conditioning Coach | Alan Dean |
ROSTER
|
Player Name
|
Position
|
Club
|
|---|---|---|
| Maikel Azcuy | IF | Essex Arrows |
| Hamilton Bennet | LHP | Binghamton Mets (New York Mets – AA) |
| Chris Berset | C | Pensacola Blue Wahoos (Cincinnati Reds – AA) |
| Henry Chappell | RHP | |
| Richard Chesterton | LHP | Essex Arrows |
| Daniel Cooper | RHP | Karlskoga Bats (Sweden) |
| Jonathan Cramman | OF | London Mets |
| Gary Davison | IF | Southampton Mustangs |
| Fraser Duggan | IF | Bracknell Blazers |
| Jordan Edmonds | RHP | Bracknell Blazers |
| Jacob Esch | RHP | Jupiter Hammerheads (Miami Marlins, A+) |
| Mitch Evans | C | Brisbane Bandits (Australia) |
| Luke Foley | IF | Essex Arrows |
| Andy Heggen | RHP | Pine Hills Lightning (Australia) |
| Greg Hendrix | LHP | Hamburg Stealers (Germany) |
| Richard Klijn | IF | Buchbinder Legionaere Regensburg (Germany) |
| Spencer Kreisberg | RHP | Karlskoga Bats (Sweden) |
| Gavin Marshall | RHP | Hull Scorpions |
| Callum Murphy | IF | Ontario Terriers (Canada) |
| Mike Nickeas | C | Buffalo Bisons (Toronto Blue Jays, AAA) |
| Dan Parker | OF | Hull Scorpions |
| Ben Pearson | RHP | Cartmel Valley Lions |
| Jarrod Pretorius | IF | |
| Josh Rapaport | OF | London Mets |
| David Rees | LHP | Staten Island (USA) |
| Mike Renery | RHP | Warsaw Centaury (Poland) |
| Brett Rosen | C | Muhlenberg College (USA) |
| Michael Roth | LHP | Arkansas Travellers (Los Angeles Angels, AA) |
| Matt Roxburgh | OF | Brisbane Bandits (Australia) |
| Chris Sims | IF | Port Adelaide (Australia) |
| Sam Sproule | RHP | London Mets |
| Dexter Stewart | C | Bracknell Blazers |
| Ryan Trask | OF | Bracknell Blazers |
| Martin Tucker | IF | London Mets |
| Kyle Waddell | RHP | Tubingen Hawks (Germany) |
| Paul Waterman | LHP | Karlskoga Bats (Sweden) |
| Alex Webb | RHP | |
| Zack Wiley | IF | Le Moyne College (USA) |
| Sam Wiley | OF | Valley Mets (USA) |
| Ian Young | IF |